HonestE-The DJ of Truth: Let's Dance, Feds!

“I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man." ~George Washington_____________ “Loyalty is the realization that America was born of revolt, flourished in dissent, became great through experimentation. Our tradition is one of protest and revolt, and it is stultifying to celebrate the rebels of the past while we silence the rebels of the present.” ~Henry Steele Commager, Historian

Name:

Ex-US Army Paratrooper and Infantryman, Veterans for Peace, Chapter 69, San Francisco, CA. Graduate: The Colorado College, May 1996. Sower of hope; Farmer of ideas; Guardian of the Republic; I live and work in San Francisco, California. Formerly, I owned a business building marketing-style-relational-databases. Currently, I am employed with a company in San Francisco. In 1989 I volunteered for service in the United States Army Airborne (paratroopers) where I took an oath to uphold and defend the U.S. CONSTITUTION against all enemies foreign and DOMESTIC and that is exactly what I aim to do. My intent is to keep writing and publishing openly and widely waging peace in defense of my brothers-in-arms in Iraq and Afghanistan to bring them home. BRING THEM HOME NOW!!!! Politically, my inner stars shine brightly progressive yet I also bear strong libertarian stripes. I love writing, activism, working hard, music, art, reading, truth-telling with realism, speaking out for peace and speaking out for justice in defense of the highest ideals upon which our country was founded. I consider myself a principled patriot.

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Sunday, August 01, 2010

WHY IS OBAMA SO WEAK AND WIMPY HE FAILS TO TELL US THE TRUTH? REAL CONSERVATIVES ARE AGAINST THE WAR

MR. OBAMA, WHY ARE YOU SO WEAK AND WIMPY THAT YOU FAIL TO TELL US THE TRUTH?
THE AFGHAN WAR IS LOST. REAL CONSERVATIVES ARE AGAINST THE WAR.

This week, Wikileaks and the New York Times released the Afghan War Diary. The significance of this worthy news cannot be underestimated. While the Obama administration and its neoconservative wing will act dismissively of this huge story, the truth that this story reveals is that the war in Afghanistan is going very badly. Afghanistan is lost. Only one month ago, when General McChrystal was dismissed, did the Obama administration loudly proclaim that the commander is changing but the policy is not changing. For the Obama administration to now claim that the release of this story pre-dates a change in policy is a total month-over-month flip-flop by the weak-kneed and wimpy Obama White House. The great significance of the Wikileaks/New York Times story is that it punctures a gaping hole in the Obama administration’s false claims that the war is going smoothly. The story reveals the true, grim reality of our lost war in Afghanistan thus rendering the rosy scenario offered by the Obama administration to the trash-heap. You can stop lying to us now, Mr. Obama……reality is revealed.

Finally, another real news story from the mainstream media..what is that now? 2 in 1 week (NYT & WP):
1) http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/war-logs.html
2) http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/articles/a-hidden-world-growing-beyond-control/

http://original.antiwar.com/porter/2010/07/27/leaked-reports-make-afghan/
http://original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2010/07/26/afghan-war-leaks-expose/
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/26-0
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/27
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/27-1
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/18/we-re-not-winning-it-s-not-worth-it.html
http://original.antiwar.com/lobe/2010/07/27/obamas-afghanistan-strategy/
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/patrick-cockburn-the-battle-to-justify-this-as-a-war-worth-fighting-just-got-a-lot-harder-2036182.html
http://original.antiwar.com/solomon/2010/07/27/state-of-denial/
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0727/lawmakers-challenge-obama-afghan-leak/
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/27-6
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/27-14
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/27/AR2010072703050.html?referrer=emailarticle
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/28-4
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/25/revolution-in-military-affairs-shock-awe
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jul/27/folly-war-wikileaks-afghanistan
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/30-10
http://whitehouse.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/07/30/new-president-same-war-funding/
http://news.antiwar.com/2010/07/30/record-us-toll-in-afghanistan-as-violence-continues-to-soar/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/26/AR2010072603847_pf.html
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/31-4

How to get out of Afghanistan? Reach a political solution with the Taliban. They are probably not going to harbor al-Qaeda again given how much it has cost them. Al-Qaeda is pretty decimated anyway. We can monitor and keep pressure on them from afar…….we do not need 100K troops in theater, that’s just ridiculous. We don’t need any troops in theater. Al-Qaeda is likely not returning to Afghanistan because they have set-up comfortable shop in Pakistan. Why move? How the Taliban treat their women is frankly none of our business, but if human rights groups wish to continue pressuring them, that’s commendable. But it is key to recognize that morality can never be effectively enforced by the end of a gun, because then the method of enforcement becomes as poisonously immoral as whatever the alleged immoral action that is supposedly being corrected. If you force them violently, by killing them for which they will hate you, then ultimately they will eventually attack you in response and this is one of the causes of terrorism. Don’t believe me? Then just ask our careless, stupid, asinine U.S. Federal Government for details on the nature of blowback. That’s how we got into this mess to begin with. We should strive to avoid violently forcing our will upon others because if we choose to violently force others, then we become terrorists, but worse, we set the example for them to follow to use violence against us. We can pressure or inspire other people to change, but if we choose to use force, then we are guilty of creating terrorism because we led them right to it. To curtail and minimize terrorism and to curtail and minimize violent action, we need only to lead by example and demonstrate how things can be changed in a variety of smart, clever ways other than through the use of stupid, brute, violent force.
http://original.antiwar.com/eland/2010/07/27/main-effect-of-the-wikileaks/

I believe that sometimes circumstances force upon us not simply the choice between good and evil, but more often the choice between the lesser of two evils. Now, the Time Magazine cover of the girl named, Aisha, is quite horrible and tragic, however, perhaps if Time Magazine also showed on their cover this tragic picture below about Brendan Marracco, an infantryman in Iraq who lost both his arms and both his legs, then Time Magazine would appear both fair and balanced wouldn't they? Don't count on it. This is the kind of tragedy that befalls our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/nyregion/04soldier.html?_r=2&partner=TOPIXNEWS&ei=5099
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/30-1

So, in my view, these are the choices we face:
MORE EVIL = STAY IN AFGHANISTAN
(Aisha can go about her life…it may not be easy for her but she will learn to adapt)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/jul/30/time-magazine-news-photography
LESS EVIL= GET OUT OF AFGHANISTAN AND BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!!!
(because dead troops cannot go about their lives…..and if you had to choose, then which would you rather lose……..your ears and nose? Or all four of your limbs, both arms and legs?) Aisha has it easier.

http://www.antiwar.com/doverimages/gallery3.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/nyregion/04soldier.html?_r=2&partner=TOPIXNEWS&ei=5099
Sometimes we must choose the lesser of two evils. The world is comprised of many shades of gray.

If I say something over and over again, it is because I am stressing its importance…so let’s again cover the important stuff first (though I made some additional comments to this section to spice it up a bit):

Our common cause is to save lives, ours and theirs, from dying for nothing in a useless war and occupation--both of them.
Secondarily our common cause is to save the cause of liberty in our own country and save our country from moral and financial ruin.
http://wire.antiwar.com/2010/07/23/white-house-predicts-record-1-47-trillion-deficit-2/

Do you know why they haven't killed or captured Osama bin Laden yet?
Because doing so would end the larger effort...........what larger effort is that, you ask? Their effort at propping up the military-national-security-industrial-welfare-complex...........that's what the faux WOT is all about.....to give a purpose where none exists. Faux WOT for what? The reality, folks, is that one of Osama bin Laden’s stated objectives was to draw the U.S. into a long-protracted war and financially bleed the United States slowly to death. And our great United States Federal Government, idiots that they are, are giving to Osama exactly what we wants by remaining in Afghanistan which is bleeding us financially and morally. Don’t give the terrorists what they want………..get out of Afghanistan!!!! The Afghan war is lost. Staying in Afghanistan gives both comfort and aid to the terrorists by giving them what they most want: to financially and morally bleed America dry.
BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don’t give the terrorists the gift of American financial ruin.

"Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak.”
~John Quincy Adams

The reality is that they do not have the vast views that they think they have:
http://the-diplomat.com/2010/07/01/why-west-lost-afghan-war/
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,708850,00.html

"Over grown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty."
~George Washington

To be against the war, to be against nation-building and Empire, and to be against big-government and big government equals a big Pentagon budget and other entitlements programs, and to be in favor of preserving civil-liberties for all, including the right to bear arms, (I stand for all of the U.S. Constitution, not just the parts of it I like…hey, I used to go hunting as a young man too), to be these things is be a true-Conservative. If Republicans can reform themselves from borrow-and-spend Pentagon-Liberals, perhaps one day, they can be conservatives too. A party that espouses and embraces racial hatred while championing borrow-and-spend budgets, big-military and intelligence expenditures is not a conservative party. Did you know it was the Republican Party that issued the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln? How did this come to be? It came to be through a hundred years of abolition activism that produced that Republican Party, that American president, that American civil-war, and that Emancipation Proclamation. (Don’t worry, activism influences policy quicker in the Internet Age). Activists are leaders and politicians are followers…if you don’t like the current Republican Party, then change it. As I have always proclaimed loudly to my friends and family……..

”America!!! Love it or change it………or change it because you love America.” Yes, you can. Yes, I can. Yes, we can. We should see the modern Republican Party as our six-million dollar man……we can rebuild you!!!! We can transform you from a regional, racist party with limited power into a strong, powerful, national force to be reckoned with……and all you have to do is to come out against the war. Stop wasting money on useless, unjust wars! Fiscal conservatism begins at home.

Am I a Progressive or am I a Conservative?? Hmmmm……..I just don't know nor do I have to decide because at the end of the day, I am simply an American citizen with an opinion to offer.….I mean there are smart people on the Left, on the Right, in the center and many smart undefined Americans…..I really love the center, probably because I can’t stand fascists or communists and because it provides for maximum latitude. Both extremes make me want to puke. All I know is that I care enough about my country to speak out in the pursuit of peace and justice to bring the troops home now!!! Furthermore, in my experience, if one leads by setting an example, I have learned that others are sure to follow. If one leads by standing upon principle, many others are sure to follow. My fellow Americans, I urge you to be that catalyst; be that leader; be that person who sets the example for others to follow. You can do it. You do have the power. You can inspire others. Any person willing to risk placing the needs of their country or their world, as they see it, before their own needs, regardless of the consequences that may befall them, can lead their fellow citizenry in a new direction. You must first believe in yourself, you must have faith in your own sense of self-empowerment and you must trust your fellow citizens to see the rationale of the principled stand you take by choosing to make up their own minds to follow your cause. So whatever cause is dear to your heart, I know you can make a difference. Do it.

You don’t have to be Mother Theresa, Rabbi Heschel, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Harvey Milk, Cesar Chavez or Yitzhak Rabin to make a difference. Remember, these people were people just like you: Each of them did bear both positive and negative traits, each of them bore a variety, range and frequency of emotions; each of them bore varying degrees of love, of hate (they certainly hated oppression and injustice didn’t they?) and of nonchalance. Each of them bore different sexual proclivities. Each of them achieved amazing feats. Each of them made many mistakes during of the course of their lives. Each of them had their own faults. Each of them slept, ate food, crapped, urinated and washed themselves. Each of them educated themselves and others. Each of them spoke out. Each of them pursued justice. Each of them led by example. Each of them stood upon their principles. What made them noted had much less to do with the eloquence of their words and much more to do with the fire in their hearts; much more to do with their willingness to take risks on behalf of their fellow human brethren; much more to do with their action of leading by speaking out and taking other actions. As a human being, remember that you share your common humanity with these people. You don’t have to be Mother Theresa, Rabbi Heschel, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Harvey Milk, Cesar Chavez or Yitzhak Rabin to make a difference. You need only be yourself. They were unique and you are unique. You can do it with principles, patience and perseverance. You can make a difference, yes you can. So if you care, then I hope you choose to do it. Believe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Activists, not soldiers, are the chief defenders of freedom, liberty and democracy. Activists are leaders and politicians are followers……….so lead, speak out, take action and agitate and agitate and agitate!!!! And to be clear….I’m not a full-time activist, folks, I work a professional job as a database-marketing professional at a corporation during the day……hey, you know, I have bills to pay too. I have everything to lose and nothing to gain, but this is not about me…this is about the good of our country and the troops whom I love. I consider myself an evening and weekend activist and a principled patriot. I am merely doing my duty as a citizen of this nation. My sense of duty, honor and country compel me to speak out. You can too. There is nothing to fear. You own this government, you pay for it, it is yours. You should never fear the government, however, the government should fear you………that is the way a democracy works. If you work all day, obey just laws (not all laws are just…where there is no victim, there is no crime) and participate in democracy in your evenings and weekends by speaking out and getting involved, like I do, well, then I have good news for you: you are a model American citizen in a functioning democracy. And I am trying to lead by example to show you, my fellow American citizens, what is possible. Yes, you can. Yes, I can. Yes, we can.

Why is the First Amendment first? It is first because it is the most important amendment of them all.

If we oppose Tyranny to be visited upon our lives at home in America, then we must also oppose Tyranny to be visited upon the lives of others abroad!! There is no such thing as bombs of benevolence. End the war!!! A principled patriot opposes war. A principled patriot extols liberty. A principled patriot thinks for himself. A principled patriot is willing to risk putting the needs of his country before his own. A principled patriot tells the truth. Try to be a principled patriot, we each have flaws, but we can try.

"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves."
~Abraham Lincoln


WAGE PEACE AND BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.amconmag.com/
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/
http://www.lewrockwell.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org
http://www.fff.org
http://www.antiwar.com/
http://www.wikileaks.com (the best way to disinfect is to shine light upon the filth)
http://www.bradleymanning.org/

"We are not pacifists. We are transparency activists who understand that transparent government tends to produce just government. That is our modus operandi behind our whole organization: to get out suppressed information into the public where the press and the public and our nations' politics can work on it to produce better outcomes." ~Julian Assange

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/07/28/sen-graham-prosecute-wikileaks-for-undermining-the-war-effort/
http://wire.antiwar.com/2010/07/28/fbi-chief-says-agents-assisting-dod-on-wikileaks/
http://www.thenation.com/blog/37949/dan-ellsberg-wikileaks-essential-democratic-question-who-will-tell-people
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/30-1
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/thank_god_for_the_whistle-blowers_20100728/
http://www.amconmag.com/tactv/2010/07/29/obama-is-a-threat-to-national-security/

If the United States Government succeeds in shutting down Wikileaks, then other brave leaders like Julian Assange should step forward and set-up similar websites as Wikileaks. If the Fawning Corporate Media fails to do its fundamental job in a functioning democracy, that is to inform, not hide the truth from the American people, then average, ordinary, patriotic citizens who care about their country, people who love America, should step forward and do it for them. If the Fawning Corporate Media is only going to serve as a cheerleader/mouthpiece for the State, then I say: UNDERMINE AND SUBVERT!!!

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."
~John Adams

Now, the powers-that-be are going to make every silly and scary argument against Wikileaks (such as you are hurting troops in the field and putting their lives at risk…OMG, so scary!!!). This is complete nonsense. The only time lives are at risk is when current troop movements are discussed. Outside of that issue, the conflation of real-news-reporting with harming troops in the field, is merely a vain and desperate attempt by the U.S. government (which includes both the military and political wing) to curtail any real-news-reporting because they know that if the American people learned the truth, the American people would likely turn vehemently against the war. And the powers-that-be don’t want that…….they want perpetual war to keep artificially floating the military-industrial-complex. And real-news-reporting threatens that objective because real-news-reporting actually informs. Informing the people is supposed to be the job of the press and which the American press generally fails to do because most of them are in bed with the military-industrial-complex too….that is why it is essential to offer a new venue that actually informs like the websites I always publish in these postings. So don’t let Admiral Mullen et al. scare the public into submission by unfairly conflating real-news-reporting (as opposed to the hair styles of politicians) with tall, scary tales about troops being harmed. If they cared at all about troops being harmed, they would admit the truth that Afghanistan is lost, there’s no point to allowing good people to keep dying for nothing, and they would pull the troops out of Afghanistan now and let the Afghans govern themselves which they have done on their own for two millennia. Conflating real-news-reporting with ‘harming the troops’ is not only ridiculous, it is an undemocratic, unAmerican, tyrannical attempt to hide the real-grim-news from the eyes and ears of the public.
http://original.antiwar.com/roberts/2010/07/29/deaf-dumb-and-blind/
http://antiwar.com/radio/2010/07/28/ray-mcgovern-24/ (Fawning Corporate Media is Ray’s term)

http://www.commondreams.org/
http://www.thenation.com
http://www.buzzflash.com/
http://www.tompaine.com/
http://www.truthout.com/
http://www.motherjones.com/
http://www.alternet.org/
http://www.thinkprogress.org/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
http://www.democracynow.org/
http://www.savetheinternet.com/
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/
http://www.fpif.org/
http://jstreet.org/
http://www.truthdig.com/
http://www.dailykos.com/
http://www.tomdispatch.com/
http://www.counterpunch.com/


A corporation is not a citizen and neither is a union.
http://freespeechforpeople.org/
http://www.movetoamend.org
http://www.reclaimdemocracy.org/political_reform/proposed_constitutional_amendments.html

Here’s a whole list of websites (I haven’t updated my blog in a few years so not all the links work):
http://honeste--djoftruth.blogspot.com/2006/10/websites-to-help-you-stay-informed.html
(and when I publish my blog as I do above, please understand that I am not self-promoting, I’m actually a very private person, I don’t want to be famous. By publishing my blog and thus my name openly, I am trying to demonstrate that I am not afraid. Well, to be honest, I am a little afraid but I refuse to let that fear dictate my actions….or inactions. It is my intention to keep writing and posting until all the troops are brought home. And in that sense, I am not afraid to do my duty as an honest, hard-working American citizen.) You need not be controlled by fear either. Speak out, get involved, do your duty as a patriot to this nation. Yes, you can. Yes, I can. Yes, we can.

“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
~President John F. Kennedy (uttered actually on the campaign trail before he became president)



The goal of any mass-movement should be to appeal to the widest number of persons. Abandon ideological rigidity in the interest of coming together in common purpose to end the war. Don’t try to convert people to your ideology for they will naturally resist and angrily reject everything you say there-forward. Speak to them in the language they understand, appeal to their sensitivities, make it accessible to them, and then creatively and cleverly add to that flavor tailored for them the cause that you champion. Win their hearts and minds by tailoring your cause to their beliefs and sensitivities. Trust them. Believe in them. Think of your audience, always. Own their concerns. Rub their back and they will rub yours. Come together, people………..because at the end of the day, there really exists no Left or Right or Center, there really just exists us, we Americans together bonded in common purpose.
http://www.amconmag.com/article/2005/oct/10/00027/

I don’t endorse all of Mr. Raimondo’s views, especially some of his extreme views on Israel, but these two articles below are really quite good:
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/07/27/why-is-the-antiwar-movement-stalled/
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/07/30/why-we-need-wikileaks/

What does the First Amendment say explicitly? Let us review:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
What does this mean? It means you can say what you wish to say without fear of reprisal; Free Speech is not limited to the press. It means you can assemble peaceably with others; you can form a secret society if you wish and you are not required to inform the government of your society, your intentions, plans or activities. The government has no right to know how you decide to peaceably assemble. Moreover, in America, you can practice whatever religion or belief system appeals to you or you can be atheist or agnostic. Freedom of religion includes freedom from religion. America is an ethnic, racial and religious melting pot. We have conflicting issues but we work through them, albeit slowly. What is the significance of this? The significance of this is best represented in the article below, in my opinion:
http://reason.com/archives/2010/07/22/repeal-religious-freedom-at-gr

The majority of people in the world are peaceful, moderate people. Islam, Judaism, Christianity are largely religions of peace which each share a common thread: ABRAHAM. Now, there do exist some radical, fascist-minded wing-nuts in each of these noble faiths: Osama-bin-Laden, Fred Phelps and Avigdor Lieberman to name a few. But largely, each of these faiths is noble, peaceful and just.
Hate crimes are un-American and just downright wrong!!! Stand against hate!! Promote tolerance.

There is nothing Conservative or American about hate. And to be fair, I’ve said stupid things at different times during the course of my life too, but now I do try to promote tolerance. None of us are flawless, folks, we have all made our share of mistakes but we can try today to promote tolerance.
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/07/28-6

The more I hear from Abe Foxman, the more I realize that this man is a racist against Arabs:
http://www.lobelog.com/foxman-really-outdoes-himself-on-mosque-issue/
Racism in any form against any group is wrong and un-American and Abe Foxman should be ashamed of himself. He is a huge discredit and embarrassment to the Anti-Defamation League. What an idiot.


Your tax dollars at work…now you see it, now you don’t….its magic!!! And Iraqi’s in Baghdad barely have 6 hours of electricity per day, if that. Typical government operation..all bureaucracy, zero efficacy.
http://news.antiwar.com/2010/07/27/pentagon-cant-account-for-8-7-billion-in-iraqi-reconstruction-funds/
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/07/27-0
http://www.fff.org/comment/com1007j.asp
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Our-big-government-war-on-terror-1003788-99260539.html
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/27-4
http://original.antiwar.com/paul/2010/07/26/on-the-bloated-intelligence-bureaucracy/
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/28-1
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-intelligence-20100726,0,2743385.story
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/29-6
http://www.aclu.org/national-security/obama-administration-danger-establishing-new-normal-worst-bush-era-policies-says-a
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20100729/wl_mcclatchy/3581075
http://original.antiwar.com/buchanan/2010/07/29/coming-home-at-last/
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/30-9
http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/tgif/national-insecurity/
http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/opinion/959-jack-kenny/4167-a-police-state-youd-better-believe-in

Interesting articles below, though throughout history, Empires tend to die slowly over time often due to overconsumption and overspending; rarely do Empires come crashing down all at once, unless invaded and conquered by external forces (but there are exceptions like the Soviet Union in 1989):
http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2010-07-28.asp
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/27-7
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/29-6
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/29-10

Hooray for Israeli peace and justice activists taking action and waging tikkun-olam for that is the brand of Judaism that I know and admire:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100728/wl_csm/316579
http://www.avnery-news.co.il/english/index.html

If settlement building in Palestine is to continue unimpeded, then it is evidently clear to me that the Netanyahu government is correct about one thing: There lacks a partner for peace. However, Netanyahu is wrong in proclaiming that assertion about the Palestinians…because the opposite is true….while there exists a partner for peace on the Palestinian side, Mahmoud Abbas, there lacks the requisite partner for peace on the Israeli side of the equation and that’s part of the problem:
http://news.antiwar.com/2010/07/28/netanyahu-extending-settlement-freeze-would-topple-israeli-govt/

Boycotts are an effective tool in the activist’s toolbox and can bring great political pressure on stubborn governments. Boycotts are fair game and should be utilized. When companies inside Israel feel the pinch, they will seek peace too. If the Netanyahu government feels stopping settlement activity would plummet Israel into civil-war, then it may be effective to deploy Israeli troops (or NATO troops if there even exists a threat of an Israeli civil-war) along the future border between Israel and the future country of Palestine to keep peace between them. While it is not ideal, it may be a step in the right direction. Remember, the lesser of two evils is often our only available choice.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/29-1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/21/israel-international-boycott
http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2010/07/28/who-owns-general-petraeus/

Why is a boycott necessary? Because the Obama administration doesn’t have the gonads to do what it takes to push the Israeli government to the peace table: Temporarily cut off all military and financial aid to Israel to force their hand. Make turning the aid-faucet back on contingent upon a peace deal. If the U.S. temporarily cut-off aid to Israel, I’d wager that the government of Israel would run to the peace table so fast that we’d probably have an agreement in place by the end of this year or next.

I, for one, will not stand idly by in silence while a country comprised mostly of a people who have suffered immeasurably throughout history culminating in the great tragedy of the Holocaust, are then hijacked by a few select extremists who use the Holocaust as a political weapon to silence dissent, thus cheapening and diminishing the true-ugliness of anti-Semitism, against anyone who wages tikkun-olam and voices any criticism whatsoever of the oppression and the Apartheid that the government of Israel maintains in its oppressive Occupation of Palestine. The ongoing oppression and the ongoing attempt to silence dissent, in my view, is both undemocratic and unJewish. It’s certainly not the Judaism I know and admire. I’ve been to Israel twice and I loved it. I have Israeli friends and Palestinian friends too. I consider myself a pro-peace friend of Israel but I also consider myself a principled patriot truth-teller and sometimes the truth hurts, but I think it is better to tell the truth than to shine people on. Real friends tell each other the truth even when the truth is uncomfortable or inconvenient because real friends look out for each other’s best interest. That is what it is to be friends, mutual love and loyalty.
http://www.jstreet.org/


Why are you so weak and wimpy and frail, Mr. Obama? Why are so scared to act on principle? Ohhhh, yes, now I remember, you would rather rule the Empire for two terms than be lauded as a great man in history for delivering Middle-East peace but for only one-term. Ahhhh, the high price of politics without principle. Who knows, Mr. Obama, maybe if you build your politics on principle and do noble, respectable things with it, maybe you can bake your cake and eat it too for two terms.


“Taxes are not raised to carry on wars, but it is wars that are raised to carry on taxes.”
~Thomas Paine

"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official."
---Theodore Roosevelt, President


“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but it is morally treasonable to the American public.”
--President Theodore Roosevelt


“It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government.”
--Thomas Paine


“Of all the enemies to liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people.

The Constitution expressly and exclusively vests in the Legislature the power of declaring a state of war [and] the power of raising armies. A delegation of such powers [to the president] would have struck, not only at the fabric of our Constitution, but at the foundation of all well organized and well checked governments. The separation of the power of declaring war from that of conducting it, is wisely contrived to exclude the danger of its being declared for the sake of its being conducted."
~James Madison

“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
~Albert Einstein

”The worst patriots are those who hold certainty dearer than truth, who, in order to spare themselves the pain of thought, are willing to inflict untold sufferings on others. Adolf Eichmann comes to mind.
But if uncritical lovers of their country are the most dangerous of patriots, loveless critics are hardly the best. If you love the good you have to hate evil, else you're sentimental; but if you hate evil more than you love the good, you're a good hater. Surely the best patriots are those who carry on not a grudge fight but a lover's quarrel with their country.”
~William Sloane Coffin

“My country right or wrong, when right to keep right, when wrong to make right.”
---Carl Schulz


“My country, always. My government when it deserves it.”
----Mark Twain


“I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man."
~George Washington


“Loyalty is the realization that America was born of revolt, flourished in dissent, became great through experimentation. Our tradition is one of protest and revolt, and it is stultifying to celebrate the rebels of the past while we silence the rebels of the present.”
~Henry Steele Commager, Historian


"The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself."
~Archibald MacLeish


"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
~Martin Luther King, Jr.


"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
~Patrick Henry


WAGE PEACE AND BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.amconmag.com/
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/
http://www.lewrockwell.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org
http://www.fff.org
http://www.antiwar.com/
http://www.wikileaks.com (the best way to disinfect is to shine light upon the filth)
http://www.bradleymanning.org/
http://www.commondreams.org/
http://www.thenation.com
http://www.buzzflash.com/
http://www.tompaine.com/
http://www.truthout.com/
http://www.motherjones.com/
http://www.alternet.org/
http://www.thinkprogress.org/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
http://www.democracynow.org/
http://www.savetheinternet.com/
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/
http://www.fpif.org/
http://jstreet.org/
http://www.truthdig.com/
http://www.dailykos.com/







































































































For those curious enough to scroll all the way down here, I place this personal story at the bottom because I am trying to stress that this writing-and-publishing that I do once per week is not about me, this is about the good of our country and the troops whom I love....bring them home now!!!

When I was young boy, and after I caused some mischief in grammar school, my grandfather who passed away last year at the ripe old age of 94, G-d rest his soul, shed upon me these noble words:
“Remember, grandson, the more clever you are, the greater is your responsibility to the society in which you live. Always remember to give something back to your country.”
~Major William M. Callman, United States Army-Air Force, Signal Corps, China Theatre in WWII
I sure do miss you, Grandpa, and I am trying to honor your memory the best way I know how.
WAGE PEACE!!!

I don’t know why I am including this passage from the Torah in this posting but I just feel strangely, powerfully and cosmically compelled to do so………like something tugging on me to include it.

Psalm 23 from the Torah, Tehillim (songs of praise):

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name' sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.


Gesher Tzar M'od
All the world is a narrow bridge.
And the essence of living is not to be afraid.

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